United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

good morning ,I have a son David who is right side bpi and is 7 and is repeating 1st grade (he has a hard time with reading )anyway for years i kept saying to his teachers his wiring seems off they look at me like im nuts(who knows maybe i am ) But i just found some sites that talk about handedness and david is forced to be left haned and you know they say if you force a lefty to be a righty then it cause problems..so any way to make a long odd story short converting handness can cause memory disorders and all kinds of other good things...Im not nuts.no child is perfect and im not looking for excuses why my son is not but why when you try to figure out why your child has problems people think your making excuses for them or you think way to much about it he'll be fine they dont get it!sorry for the ramble ..Mona

Mona,
I had the same problem and came here and found out my son could possibly have sensory issues. This is a good place to come the advice you get here is wonderful. If you can print that information do it and hand it to the teacher. When I ment to my son's teacher I explained to her that I was feeling like a hypochondriac for my son......she laughed. But it wall worked out. The schools must test your child....it is the law. Talk to your son's teacher you might be surprised.......I was !! Gayle mom of Brandon age 7

Could you post some of the web sites that you read about forcing handedness???? My son is being forced to be left handed and I am was recently wondering if we should be doing this.

I have had simular feelings about my son. I feel like so many people think I am nuts about some of the symptoms he is having.

here's a good link about changing handedness
http://www.linkshaender-beratung.de/english/Problem.htm

My daughter is left bpi and a leftie and she is forced to use rightie to do everything. Well rightie is having a really hard time. We write with a slant board to correct a wrist bend. We use Stetro grips to teach rightie how to grip correctly. We do hand exercises. It has become apparent to me that as more and more hand writing becomes necessary in school, we will have to purchase her a keyboard for her. (like the alpha smart, etc). She is in 2nd grade and it's ok for now but I can see that it's not easy at all and she tires easily. When she was younger, it was extremely difficult and I had a lot of problems explaining it to the teachers. So at the beginning of each year I have an IEP meeting the focus is on handedness.

The symptoms my daughter expereinced were full body/emotional issues it seems. It was all about motor planning. She could plan for one or two things but put more on the list and she would go nuts. It was almost like dyspraxia - just being completely out of balance on different levels.

That web site was very disturbing as far as the out come of using the wrong hand to write with...I mean, I never realized that Ty's bed wetting or nail bitting could be related at all to him using the wrong hand to write with; or that he could possibly have a neurotic or psycho-somatic disorder as an adult. How do I get him to switch to the correct hand??? How am I supposed to do that? This is just very upsetting....does this ever get any eaiser for them???

My daughter switched from left-handed to right-handed due to her lobpi. I met with the ot a few weeks ago. She showed me all the beautiful work the she has done with Juliana. I commented that we are still seeing a lot of letter flipping. She said she hadn't seen that at all. IDIOT!! I just got a project home that Juliana did. In the project she has pilgrims at the table and one person "walking" to the table. The person "walking" has a word bubble and I couldn't read the word in the bubble. She told me it was "coming"-as in "I'm coming!!!" The entire word was backwards-the letters were backwards and the word was written from right to left. Gee, miss ot... think we have a problem?? That will be a phone call next week.

We switch buildings next year and get a new ot...

switching hands is not easy

claudia

Tylerberg's Mom,
How old is Ty.....Brandon is 7 and still wets the bed. It make me crazy anbd broke....those good nites are getting expensive !
Gayle

Wow all you just described my youngest Daughter and her issues , she is NOT obpi and is Rhight handed. I asked her to use her left hand and try but she has not pen or pinscer grasp in her left hand at all. I dunno what to think anymore. On the other hand Ashley , ROBP is left handed and has no challenges or issues at all Thank gosh!

Lenni

Gayle--Tyler is 7 too and I completly understand about the goodnites. I don't know what to do with him. I have done everything and have just run out of ideas. I even had him tested for some kind of bladder problem and the doc said nothing was wrong with him. It's very frustrating and yes, expensive.

Laura

Dear Moms,
Bedwetting can be a symptom of serious stress. We Adults with OBPI at Camp 2005[mine LOBPI], shared that we ALL lived with stresses of one kind or another throughout our childhood.It isn't easy being BPI. I luv ya' all...
Hugs all around & Camp 2007 or Bust!,
Carolyn J
Adult LOBPI
ps...for those who aren't aware, you are all welcome on the Adult Boards too; there's alot of infro there.